Sunday, May 22, 2011

Pakistan wants China to build a naval base at a deep-sea port in southwestern Baluchistan province, its defence minister said Sunday, while also inferring that Washington was a fair weather friend.

Ahmad Mukhtar, who accompanied Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani during a recent visit to China, said the request was made during the trip, when Pakistan thanked Beijing for constructing Gwader Port, on the Arabian Sea.

"However, we would be more grateful to the Chinese government if a naval base was being constructed at the site of Gwader for Pakistan," Mukhtar said in a statement.

The deep-sea port was around 75 percent financed by China, which Pakistan has been trying to draw in as a strategic partner, especially since the discovery and US killing on May 2 of Osama bin Laden north of Islamabad.

The commando raid rattled US-Pakistan relations, with American politicians angered at how the Al-Qaeda leader had managed to conceal that he was living barely two hours drive from the Pakistani capital.

Gilani and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao have both made a point of lauding mutual ties, just as Pakistan finds itself under pressure about whether its security services knew where bin Laden was.

"China is an all-weather friend and the closest ally of Pakistan, and it could be judged from the fact that in which ever sectors Pakistan requested assistance during P.M's recent visit to China, they immediately agreed with Pakistan," the defence minister's statement said.

India, however, has voiced "serious concern" about defence ties between China and Pakistan and said it would need to bolster its own military capabilities in response. (read more)